By Greg Jordan, Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD, VA — Holiday wishes for hundreds of children who might have had little or nothing under their trees on Christmas morning were fulfilled Tuesday when donations made to the annual Community Christmas Tree paid for holiday shopping.
Parents and guardians lined up early Tuesday morning at Walmart in Bluefield, Va. when the 107th Community Christmas Tree, also known as Little Jimmie, got underway. This year donors made it possible for 925 children to have a Merry Christmas. Using a voucher system, families were able to shop for presents themselves.
“Thank you a lot,” Alexis Mahaffey of Princeton said to this year’s donors. Without the Community Christmas Tree, she would have provided Christmas for her children “the cheapest way possible.”
A Bluefield woman who declined to share her name said that without the Community Christmas Tree, her children probably would not have a Christmas.
“I’d like to say thank you from the bottom of my heart,” she said while she waited in line.
One Princeton woman said her family was caring for a foster child and trying to find a new home at the same time.
“Thank you, thank you so much,” she said. “This year has been so hard. We are trying to buy our first house and we are also fostering a kid, so we have five kids. This is going to help so much.”
Sponsored by the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, for 107 years the Community Christmas Tree – with the help of generous donors – has made Christmas brighter for the area’s children.